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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30038031">Eyes Wide Shut</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lauraschiller/pseuds/lauraschiller'>lauraschiller</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Elena of Avalor (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Foreshadowing, Gen, Loss of Parent(s), Misunderstandings, Politics, Pre-Canon, Spoilers: Episode s01e17: King of the Carnival, Spoilers: Episode s03e28: Coronation Day, Uncle-Nephew Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:02:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,715</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30038031</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lauraschiller/pseuds/lauraschiller</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Should Avalor declare war on the Northern Islands? In royal families, it's all too easy for political arguments to become personal.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Esteban &amp; Raul</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Eyes Wide Shut</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Fencing had never been Esteban Flores’ favorite pastime, but today, the sight and sound of swords clashing in the palace training yard made him feel positively ill. Only this morning, the royal family and their advisors had agreed to declare war on the Northern Islands, and it was only a matter of time before those blunted practice swords were replaced with sharp blades that would draw blood. How many soldiers would never come back from this war, just like his parents hadn’t come back from their voyage to the Northern Sea? How many children would never see their fathers again?</p><p>When one of the guards disarmed King Raul, knocked him down into the hard-packed dirt and held both swords to his throat, it looked like a nightmare vision of things to come. </p><p>Then the guard stepped back, lowered the blades, and respectfully held out a hand to help his sovereign up. Raul took it, smiled, and clapped the younger man on the shoulder in congratulation. As the guard and his fellows headed for the barracks, Raul spotted Esteban across the yard and jogged over to him. </p><p>“Nieto!” he called, his voice a hearty boom even when short of breath. “Fine day for practice, isn’t it? Come and spar with me!”</p><p>“You cannot be serious.”</p><p>“Oh, come on! If you’re afraid to spoil your outfit, all you need to do is change.” Raul clapped his nephew on the shoulder, leaving a sweaty handprint on his velvet jacket. Esteban tried not to wince.</p><p>Standing there in the shade of the palace, the man and the boy were in sharp contrast. Raul was tall and broad-shouldered, his white fencing suit streaked with sweat and dirt, his face flushed and his hair rumpled. Esteban was thin as a reed, dressed in silk and velvet despite the warmth of the spring day because he got cold easily, his hair slicked back, his cravat perfectly knotted. They were related by marriage, not by blood, and it showed. Esteban often worried that, when he’d first arrived at the palace, Raul would rather have raised another athlete or scientist like Elena and Isabel. Even ten years of living together had not done much to dull that impression. It was still difficult for them to find common ground … now more than ever, he thought bitterly, if his uncle was really going ahead with this horrible plan.</p><p>“I just can’t believe you’re doing this, Tio. You’re sending those men to be killed. What can swords even do against a sorceress who can turn people into dust?”</p><p>“Alacazar is coming with us, remember? I have every confidence in him.”</p><p>“Alacazar has a wife and daughter who depend on him, and so do you. You’re really going to leave them behind for a conflict that’s got nothing to do with us?”</p><p>Esteban almost said leave us behind, but stopped in time, too proud to include himself in the category of dependents. The last thing he wanted to do was sound weak.</p><p>“Nothing to - ?” Raul’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “Cordoba has been our ally since my grandfather’s time. When I came to the throne, I swore an oath to stand by my allies in times of need, and I have no intention of breaking it. Lucia understands that, and so will Elena and Isa when they’re older.”</p><p>“And you’d keep that promise even at the cost of Avaloran lives?”</p><p>Raul glowered, and Esteban wished he could take that comment back. His uncle was a good king, and it couldn’t be easy for him to contemplate war. But then the older man drew himself up and gave Esteban such a condescending look that it only made him angrier.</p><p>“I don’t like it either, but as king, it’s my responsibility to see the bigger picture. From what we’ve been told, this Shuriki is ruthless. All attempts to negotiate with her have failed. All she wants is power, and she’ll never have enough. Someone like that is a threat not only to Cordoba, but to the entire Ever Realm.”</p><p>A chill went down Esteban’s spine when he heard the name of the sorceress, whose reputation had preceded her all the way from the Northern Isles. Wizards made him nervous, even benign ones like Alacazar, and malvagos most of all. Avalor had taken in several boatloads of refugees fleeing the trail of destruction Shuriki was cutting across the Ever Realm; the memory of those ragged people with haunted eyes crowding the port was something Esteban would not soon forget. </p><p>“This is true, but if she’s so dangerous, all the more reason not to antagonize her. She’s left us alone so far, but if you attack first, she will destroy you. I’m sorry for Cordoba, but better them than us.”</p><p>Raul’s disappointed frown seemed to scorch Esteban from the top of his head to the soles of his boots. To the sensitive teenager, it felt like the confirmation of all his worst fears. He did not stop to consider that, in order to be disappointed, Raul must have thought highly of him to begin with. </p><p>“I didn’t raise you to value an oath of alliance so lightly. ‘Better them than us’? Can you even hear how selfish that sounds?”</p><p>“Selfish?” Esteban’s voice rose to an embarrassingly high pitch. “I’m not the one who cares more about your oath than keeping our people safe!”</p><p>“ENOUGH!” Raul roared, the force of his tone sending his nephew stumbling back like a blow. “My decision is final. I don’t want to hear another word on the subject. Is that clear?”</p><p>There was only one possible answer when the king spoke to you like this. Esteban ducked his head and scuffed his shoe along the ground.</p><p>“Yes, Your Majesty,” he mumbled.</p><p>Raul sighed deeply, the flash of anger gone as quickly as it came. This difference in temperament was yet another barrier between them. When Esteban got angry, it could fester inside him for months, or even years. </p><p>“Ay, Nieto … ” Raul aimed another pat at the velvet jacket, but this time, Esteban dodged. “I don’t blame you for being worried. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried myself. But sometimes, as a ruler, the lesser of two evils is the only choice available to me.”</p><p>For all his short temper, the king had a talent for diplomacy when he chose to use it. This was the same gift that kept trade with Cordoba and Satu running so smoothly, and which Esteban had always admired and desperately tried to live up to. But he was in no mood to accept an olive branch right now, no matter how kindly it was offered. </p><p>“Well, I still think you’re wrong,” he snapped, hating himself a moment later, because he really did sound like a sulky child. </p><p>Raul turned around without another word, picked up his towel from a nearby bench and flung it over his shoulder in a gesture of finality. He walked away slowly with his head down, the fatigue of fencing practice seemingly catching up with him ... or maybe it was just the weight of disappointment at having such an inadequate nephew.</p><p>Esteban’s eyes were so blinded with tears of anger, humiliation, and other things he’d never admit, that for a moment, the sandy ground of the training yard seemed to blur into the wooden planks of a pier. The stones of the palace walls melted into ocean waves, and Raul’s retreating figure became two. <em>Mama, Papa, come back – don’t leave me … </em></p><p>“Tio?” he called, choking on all the words he was afraid to say.</p><p>
  <em>Tio, do you really think so little of me? </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Tio, I don’t want to lose you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Tio, I’m sorry.</em>
</p><p>But the king’s decision was final, he had said so himself. Nothing Esteban could say would make any difference. Raul didn’t even seem to have heard his nephew calling after him, because he never turned around. Not even once.</p><p>Esteban shook out his pocket-handkerchief, swiped roughly at his eyes until they were dry, and folded it back up. Then he headed for the garden at his fastest walking pace, intending to pick a bouquet for tonight’s centerpiece at dinner, so that if anyone spotted him with red eyes today, he could blame it on his allergies. No way in the world was he letting anyone see him cry.</p><p>/</p><p>Meanwhile, in an abandoned cabin near the border between Avalor and Cordoba, a cloud of green smoke swirled in midair, projecting an image of Esteban as he stormed through the palace grounds. Shuriki sat in a rocking chair, lazily stirring the smoke with her crystal wand. The folds of her green silk gown rippled in the dim light from the closed blinds. Her smile gleamed like a cat’s.</p><p>Dissension in the royal family, was it? She did so enjoy letting her enemies do her work for her.</p><p>Cordoba was a land with powerful magical resources, such as the tree giant and the volcano monster, but from what she had seen, controlling them would be more trouble than it was worth. Especially the volcano monster; she didn’t relish the idea of being buried under a lava flow. </p><p>Avalor, on the other hand, had seemed too small to bother with at first, but if King Raul thought he could stop her, he had another think coming. If there was anything she liked better than gathering magic, it was proving someone wrong. Besides, Avalor had its own share of treasures, didn’t it? The Maruvian ruins alone were worth looking into.</p><p>Yes, she’d take over Avalor instead … and she’d use the king’s own nephew to do it. It would be so much easier to take a kingdom by trickery than by force. The fear and pride of a teenager would deliver the crown right into her hands.</p><p><em>“If she’s so dangerous,”</em> said the echo of Esteban’s voice in the cloud, <em>“All the more reason not to antagonize her.”</em></p><p>“How right you are, young man,” Shuriki murmured. “More than you know.”</p><p>If she could have read thoughts as well as hearing conversation, she would not have felt so confident. But as it was, she merely leaned back and twirled her wand between her fingers, never dreaming of how Esteban Flores’ unspoken love for his family would be her doom.</p>
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